Friday, January 21, 2011

"Hi Mom" from Everest base camp

Recently I have been thinking about how we can build resilience in our children and taking my lead from Dr Kenneth Ginsburg, a pediatrician in Philadelphia and the author of Building Resilience. Ginsburg talks about the Seven C's of resilient people and how we can foster these qualities in our children. The C's are: Competence, Confidence, Character, Connection, Contribution, Coping and Control. I think Ginsburg is really on to something and in fact have printed these "Seven C's" on the back of my business cards. I've been wondering if these are the qualities that my own young adult children carry with them.

And then came this extraordinary photo from my son, Simon's Facebook page. I had very little contact with him for two weeks while he was on vacation from his teaching job as a Fulbright fellow in Nepal. I knew he was out on icy, cold trails with a colleague, but I had not really been able to imagine what that could be like. Until he called me from about 16,000 feet in the Himalayas and said:"Oh, Mom it's SO BIG."

And now with this photo posted since his--Thank God--safe return to Kathmandu I can see for myself those Ginsburg qualities that he carries inside him. This is the stuff that allows you to think you can do this sort of thing pretty much on your own in a place that is about as foreign as it gets with unspeakable risks and dangers. And rewards. Thanks, Simon, for one in a long string of lessons for me as your Mom.